Chapter Three
Arjun slowly lifted another log but those eyes got more scared and closed them, so he stopped. He cleared his throat and lifted his hands off.
"It's okay.. aap aab surakshit hai beta. Aap bahar aana chahte hai?" Arjun softly said but the little kid just sobbed. "Beta ro matt. I'm not going to hurt you." Arjun tried again.
Even though realizing who he was, Arjun still asked him to strike a conversation. "Humara naam Arjun hai. Aap kaun hai?"
As if realizing something, the little boy stopped crying and stared at him. Then he stammered, "Aap Arjun uncle ho?" Confused, Arjun nodded his head, offering a smile. He was still in his police uniform, so it helped a lot.
"Didi ne.. Mujhe bahar nikal na hai." And Amit started crying. Arjun slowly pulled him from behind the pile of logs and Amit hugged him, crying while Arjun rocked him back and forth to give him some comfort.
Arjun knew he couldn't start questioning Amit right away as he was clearly very scared but he still couldn't help but ask about her. "Amit, aap mujhe kaise jaante ho?"
Amit wiped his tears with his small hands and Arjun helped him. "Woh didi ne kaha tha.. ki sirf Arjun uncle aaye tab hi bahar nikal na. Ki aap acche uncle ho, mere dost."
Damn Ms Anand and her habit of thinking ahead of time. "Good boy Amit." Saying so he started going down, carrying Amit with him.
"Accha Amit, didi ne aur kuch bataya?"
"nehi.. woh gande uncle ne.." he sniffed, Arjun patted his back soothingly. ".. darwaza tod diya that." Saying so, he hugged Arjun more closely.
Arjun didn't take him to the flat knowing he would get more scared, so instead he descended the whole stair and found Aisha, assisting the forensic team to collect samples.
He tried to hand Amit over to Aisha, mouthing to her that this was Amit. But Amit reluctantly hold onto him. "Amit, yeh Aisha didi hai. Tumhari Saakshi didi ki friend."
"Hi.." Aisha tried again, forwarding her arms. "didi ki friend?" Amit asked Arjun again. "haan.. hum bohot acche wali friends hai. Aur aab aap ki bhi friend hai, ok?" Aisha said jollily. Nodding, Amit went in her lap who took him to paramedics after Arjun had promised that he'd be back - with his didi.
"Kaha ho Saakshi?" He muttered aimlessly and just then, Shree called out to him. "Sir, ek emergency hai."
And by the look of it, it was a pretty bad emergency.
*Flashback*
She let him laugh and as soon as they were distracted, she ran to her bedroom, clutching Amit to her. Once inside, she locked the door and dragged the side table in front of it while they pounded on the door.
Saakshi hurriedly went near the fire- escape and found it already open - meaning they must have used the fire-escape to get in.
She picked Amit up and set him on the stairs, "Baccha.. aap didi ki baat dhyan se suno." She hurriedly murmured, wiping his tears.
"Aap upar terrace pe jao aur waha pe chup jana, ok?" when he didn't nod, Saakshi cupped his face and said, "please.. aap bahar ya niche bilkul matt aana. Ek acche wale uncle aayenge .. aapko bachane."
It broke her heart when Amit looked upto him with hope, she smiled sadly, "Bilkul superman wale uncle. Unka naam Arjun hai.. woh aapko zaroor yaha se le jayenge, phir sab theek ho jayega, hmm?"
She didn't know why she was so confident about him but she knew Arjun would definitely come. She just knew it.
Nudging Amit to go up, Saakshi looked over her shoulder. They were breaking in!
"Jaldi Amit!" watching Amit to go up and disappear, even Saakshi tried to descend down. But to her ill luck, as soon as she had stepped on the stair, someone grabbed her ankle and pulled him down, making her fall with a thud as her head banged on the railing - making her head swarm with pain.
Still she fought, flailing her arms around, trying to keep them off her. But she was out numbered. One of them had her pinned. She screamed, hoping someone would hear her, but she saw they had knocked down the security guard. And her attempt earned her a slap that made her skull scream in pain as she tasted blood.
Then he came forward.. his fingers wrapping around her neck. She choked but he kept the pressure increasing with every word he spitted afterwards. "No more running.. sweet love."
*Flashback ends*
"Kya hua Shree?" Arjun asked urgently. Shree passed him his tablet, playing the video. Some masked men were torturing a group of random people tied up in a skimpy room.
The screen changed and three times more.. showing abducted citizen at their mercy.
Then a blank paper came on.. with a few lines on it. Those terrorists were clever.. they used mask so that no one could recognize them and typed the message down, not saying aloud - knowing well that they would run a voice recognition.
"Pathan Lala, Nadeem aur Ranak Bhai ki rihai.. 36 ghanto mein. Varna tabahi ki liya taiyyar ho jao."
Then the screen went totally black. Arjun was about to play it back but then another message showed up after a flimsy break. "Aur ETF k liye ek taufa."
There she was.. tied up to a chair. She was unconscious and not dead - atleast that's what he hoped was true.
Her head was falling on her right shoulder; her loose greasy with sweat and blood hair was covering her face but even under the feeble light, He could see the bruises.
Her top was shredded and every inch of her skin was covered with bruises.
And it took every ounce of self-restrain to not to throw the tablet in the ground after the video stopped.
Shree noting his frustration stayed quiet while his senior tried to regain his composure. After taking some deep breath, Arjun straightened up. He must have to have a straight mind for this!
"Shree, yeh kaha se aaya kuch pata chala?" Arjun asked. Shree disappointedly replied, "Nehi sir. Kisi third party military encryption use kiya gaya hai." Realizing how techie he must be sounding, he immediately sighed, "Without permission from ministry, I can't break in, sir."
"I don't care.. kuch bhi karo par pata karo yeh kaha se aaya." Arjun growled and Shree knew better than to argue at that moment. "Chotu se kehke informers activate karo. Pichle 24 ghante mein sheher mein jaha jaha pe bhi koi unusual hua ho mujhe uski khabar chahiye."
"Aisha se kaho ki pata lagaya iss video ki logo k bare mein.. kuch bhi! Aur liza se kehke report taiyyar rakkho." Arjun instructed, getting into the SUV.
"Aur aap kaha jaa rahe hai?" Shree couldn't stop from asking but then bit his tongue.
Arjun started off the engine and replied, "Commissioner sir se milne."
Kumkum Bhagya
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